Shiraz Bayjoo (b. 1979, Port Louis, Mauritius, East Africa ; Lives and works in London, UK)

Woman by the Window (2021)
Volando Voile, dye sublimation ink, Sapele wood, brass,168 x 160 cm

Marine Grave (2023)
Satin, dye sublimation ink, cotton batik, Sapele wood. 150 x 150 cm (inc. bar, 100cm without)

Politique des Races - Part two (2019)
Acrylic and resin on wood, Sapele wooden frame, brass. 75 x 175 x 3 cm

Sickness But Not in Health (2025)
Series of brass sculptures. Dimensions variable.

Red Baobab (2023)
Satin, dye sublimation ink, cotton batik, Sapele wood. 150 x 150 cm (inc. bar, 100cm without)

Coral Island 7 (2026)
Decal and glaze on vulcan black stoneware, 3 pieces. Medium frame: 12 x 15.5 cm (2 pieces). Large frame: 30 x 15 cm (1 piece)

Coral Island 7 (II) (2026)
Decal and glaze on vulcan black stoneware, 3 pieces. Medium frame: 12 x 15.5 cm (1 piece). Large frame: 30 x 15 cm (2 pieces)

Shiraz Bayjoo is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with film, painting, photography, performance, and installation. His research-based practice focuses on addressing cultural memory, postcolonial nationhood, and the exploration of identity and histories in a way that challenges dominant cultural narratives through the use of photographs and artifacts stored in public and personal archives.

In Woman by the Window (2021), Bayjoo recontextualizes the portrait of a Sakalava queen from Madagascar. These complex figures navigated nuanced power dynamics in the colonial period; they profited off the slave trade while simultaneously resisting attempts at colonial sovereignty. While slavery existed within the region long before the arrival of European plantations, it was taken to a wholly new, more industrial level of inhumanity under the colonial conditions.

Alongside these textile works, the Politique des Races (2019) panels extends his archival research in an attempt to return the dignity to other tiers of Madagascan society. Using the format of a religious altar piece to re-frame cropped images of Madagascans working for the French as soldiers and mercenaries, Bayjoo elevates their images and questions their agency in the face of colonial oppression.

The Sickness But Not in Health (2025) sculptural works are made from seeds, branches and plants originally collected from a botanical garden in the artist’s native Mauritius then cast in brass in a foundry in Thailand otherwise dedicated to making large scale statues for Buddhist temples. Infused with this reverence, the sculptures form a multi-part memorial to the many lost plant species, some of which exist now only in drawings, while others are artificially grown in botanical gardens around the world. The wall-hanging ceramic works, Coral Island 7 (2026) is a detail of a sketch made by Dutch sailors then reinterpreted by printers who made them into lithographs, before finding their final incarnation beneath Bayjoo’s fired glaze. Bayjoo re-presents and re-contextualizes images of those in power and those repressed, re-mediating our reception away from their original intentions.

Recent solo projects include: Whitechapel gallery (UK 2023); Sharjah Biennial, (UAE 2022); ICF, Diaspora Pavilion 2, 59th Venice Biennial (Italy, 2022); Fondation H Paris (France, 2021); New Art Exchange, Nottingham (UK, 2019). Bayjoo has been awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (USA, 2022) and has participated in residencies at: Para Site Hong Kong (upcoming); Sharjah Art Foundation (2025); Intangible Residency, Chiang Mai (Thailand, 2024); Civitella Ranieri (Italy, 2023); Delfina Foundation (UK, 2021), Cite International des Artes, Paris (France, 2021), and others. His work is held in collections internationally, including The Fitchburg Art Museum, Massachusetts (USA); FRAC Reunion (France); The Government Art Collection (UK); Fondation H, Paris (France); Sharjah Foundation (UAE).

Housed in an architecturally re-purposed former religious building just south of Tate Modern, Copperfield engages with emerging and established artists, focusing on concept led, multidisciplinary, multi-media practices. Diversity and sustainability have been a priority. In 2024 Copperfield artists presented at Tate, Documenta, Manifesta, Turner Contemporary, Whitechapel gallery, Zietz MOCA, EMST Athens, MaXXi Rome, British Art show 9, had pavilions at the Venice Biennale and have been acquired by Kanal Pompidou, MoMa, Tate, Arts Council Collection and Centre Pompidou, Paris.